Joyful Transformation

Rested….relaxed…raring to go??? Not so much, but two out of three ain’t bad!
The beach was great. The weather was perfect. If you were three feet from the ocean it was cool enough to truly enjoy. It was a little hot getting down there and back, but it was worth it. The water was even perfect. God blessed me with a clear view to the bottom in case I was too worried about sharks…. The sky was the most amazing shade of blue, the sand was pristine white….I had a great time! Unfortunately David had hurt his back and was not able to join me on the beach. But he was able to get the rest that he would have avoided had we been at home, and he is nearly proficient in the programming of the military channel. I wish he had felt better but we still had a great time.

I could not help but think of the vacations gone by. From the time my children were preschoolers I made sure that we traveled to the beach at least once a year. Sometimes it was only at Spring Break, but we always made at least one trip. Some years it was so cold that we wore long sleeves the whole time, but we were at the Beach!!! If is funny when I recount some of my favorite memories to them, they sometimes don’t even remember the trip. I thought vacation was something you ALWAYS remembered. Perhaps in my zeal to make sure they had vacations, I made it commonplace; something not really important.

You see, as a child I went on three vacations. The first was in a camper hull on the back of my Dad’s truck. We went to Lookout Mountain and then proceeded to Owensboro Kentucky where some old friends of my Mom & Dad lived. I am thinking I was around 12. They had a son who was the same age as my older brother and I know I had a severe crush! This may have been a new resolve by my own Mom, because I think it was the next year that we went to Ft. Walton Beach. This was my first trip to the beach. It was love at first sight. Even though we stayed in a small room with a kitchenette, we had a great time. When I look at the pictures it is hard to tell we had a great time because I had that smirk that every thirteen year old girl wears in all of the pictures… The most amazing thing is that on the way home Mom and I registered for a free vacation in some service station restroom….We WON!! A trip to Disney World and to Ft Lauderdale Florida where all my parents had to do was go listen to a spill about how they should buy a time-share.

The next year we five, adult size people crammed ourselves into an American Motors Hornet and took off for Disney World. It had not been opened long and frankly the only thing I remember is "It’s a Small World", maybe because that was the life I was living in the backseat of that Hornet. But, on we go to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I am not sure how long this trip took, but 700 hours is what it felt like! However, here we stayed in a real condo. It had separate bedrooms and a kitchen…cool! I recall not being too impressed with the beach, but I did like the little apartment!

I remember the first vacation I went on after 9/11/01. I felt guilty. Here I was leading a normal life and enjoying luxuries of the beach while there were so many still suffering. I have since realized that we need times of silence and solitude in our lives. Many people have to get away from their normal routines to be able to find this. I am one these people. I will always find something to be busy doing if I stay at home. Maybe vacations are luxuries that we take for granted, but in our busy lifestyles it is the one luxury we MUST allow ourselves. If we can take a weekend in a camper and take hot-dogs from home or if we go to a five star resort, we need time away from the day-to-day to refresh and recharge. I know that God talked to me at the beach. He told me some things I really needed to hear. I am grateful I was still long enough to listen.